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Salem “Remix” Britney Spears, To Disappointing Ends

May 5, 2011

What’s the music industry equivalent of a Razzie–the top spot on our year-end worst songs countdown? 2010 honorees Salem may have just taken the top spot on this year’s list with their “remix” of Britney Spears’ apocalyptically catchy jam “Til The World Ends.” It’s hard to even call their version a remix, because it appears that the “witch house” gang just ran the original through GarageBand and slowed it down (a la others’ treatment of Bieber). Britney’s voice is absolutely wrecked, with the effects making her sound more like a dying whale than a pop superstar.

There was some effort put into creating a video, at least: the clip first shows a strip club with various girls gyrating before switching to a night-vision war movie. There are some cool moments where the slowed-down beat matches with rockets being fired, but that’s about it.

Even supporters of Salem should be disappointed here: after all, if there’s one thing that the group has going for them it’s that they’re willing to throw themselves into their music with absolutely no regard for public opinion. This remix, however, gives off the stench of them being tired of not being in the blogs for songs they performed themselves; the strongest part of Salem’s shtick–Heather Marlatt’s eerie vocals–isn’t even present. Wouldn’t a cover have been more effective than a remix? Or at least something that dropped in a screwed take on Nicki Minaj’s verse?

If you prefer your apocalypop with a touch of production value, here’s Britney’s original video. It may not be a masterpiece, but when compared to the treatment Salem gave her song, it should at least get a nomination for something: